G
Good_Fella
Guest
If you’re really a Catholic, then you must know that we don’t believe Mary ascended into heaven by her own power. She was assumed body and soul by the power of her divine Son, preceding our own bodily resurrection provided we are found worthy on the last day. (Enoch and Elijah were taken bodily to the terrestial paradise at the gate of Heaven. Only Jesus and Mary exist body and soul in Heaven pending the resurrection.)I’m off work so I’ve got time to answer. What I am trying to say is that you portray Mary as a false prophet in the same line as Mohamed by declaring that she was assumed/ ascended into heaven. I am only prepared to believe in the Ascension of Christ which is in the Gospel of Luke, Mark and in the Acts of the Apostles. There are some people here who say I am not a Catholic because I do not believe in the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. However I believe that Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and God was his father, that he died and was resurrected and ascended into heaven. I also believe in the Eucharist, Confession and the other sacraments. I also believe the Gospel is the word of God. Is the belief in the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption how you define yourself as Catholics? Do you believe you will be saved by Mary’s Immaculate Conception and Assumption when there is no biblical basis for either of these two things? The Immaculate Conception and the Assumption are minor Marian heresies.
A true and faithful Catholic doesn’t impiously dissent by restricting his beliefs to certain points of Christ’s teachings - handed down by the apostolic teaching authority of the Church - according to his own judgment. A true and faithful Catholic, unlike a heretic, will assent to all the teachings of the Church as mediated by the deposit of faith: Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. Unfortunately, the Church has had to reckon with heretics through the centuries, who accepted only parts of the deposit of faith which met their personal approval. In your case, it appears only erroneous judgment and an imperfect understanding of the Church’s Marian dogmas have contributed to your rejection of the doctrines of the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary. I urge you to read the Apostolic Constitutions Ineffabilis Deus, of Pope Pius lX, and Munificentissimus Deus, of Pope Pius Xll, to fully apprehend the Church’s proposal of these revealed divine truths which our Lord wills we believe. You’ll discover the scriptural and traditional basis for these two dogmas in their encyclicals. May the grace of God help prevent you from further relying on your own fallible insight or from misguided religious fervor, or both.
You cannot be sure that the dogmas of the Virgin Birth and the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist aren’t just as false as you believe our Marian dogmas to be, if you reject the Apostolic teaching authority of the Catholic Church. Heretics have the tendency to believe only what suits their pleasure and satisfies their pride. You do reject our Marian dogmas since you feel they have no direct bearing on your own salvation. But Mary’s immaculate conception saved her by virtue of our Blessed Mother’s divine maternity, and her assumption into heaven strengthens our hope in the promised resurrection of the dead.
The Church doesn’t commit heresies, individuals do. Paul wrote to Timothy that* the Church is the pillar and bulwark of truth*.
Pax Christu :harp: